Credit: LucasfilmSeason 3 of Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni’s smash hit Star Wars spinoff, The Mandalorian, reached its conclusion in April, bringing an end to yet another action-packed adventure for Din Djarin and his tiny charge, Grogu. Now, to celebrate its success, the cast and crew are looking back on the season in a new making-of documentary that takes fans behind the scenes, revealing some secrets and hidden details along the way. With that being said, here are five important takeaways from the latest Disney Gallery episode.
What is ‘The Mandalorian’ Season 3 About?
Unlike Seasons 1 and 2, The Mandalorian Season 3 tied in various storylines from throughout the Star Wars universe, bringing an interconnectedness to the series that hadn’t featured prominently in earlier episodes. While the first season of The Mandalorian acted as a standalone space western, its second season began introducing legacy characters into the “Mando-Verse,” including former Jedi Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson), infamous bounty hunter Boba Fett (Temuera Morrison) and even a CGI-hybrid Luke Skywalker, played by Graham Hamilton and Mark Hamill.
Season 3 essentially threw the idea of a contained story centered on Mando (Pedro Pascal) and baby Grogu out the window, introducing a new set of conflicts and characters that have some big implications for the future of the “Mando-Verse” now that Dave Filoni’s crossover movie is on the horizon. For one, “Chapter 21: The Pirate” brought Zeb Orrelios (Steve Blum), an iconic character from Star Wars Rebels, into live-action, which will likely tie into the upcoming Disney+ Ahsoka show.
The Mandalorian finale also laid the groundwork for a new Mandalorian society moving forward, with Din and Bo-Katan Kryze’s (Katee Sackhoff) efforts to reclaim their homeworld being a significant plot point of Season 3. Now that Bo-Katan is the pseudo-elected leader of the newly-united Mandalorian factions, these warriors could play an important role in the shaping of the galaxy moving forward—especially with the lingering threat of Grand Admiral Thrawn (Lars Mikkelsen) and his Imperial Remnant.
Season 3 chose to play it safe with its textbook happy ending for Din, Grogu, Bo-Katan, and the new Mandalore. But it seems like Mandalorian showrunners intentionally designed the end of the season to imply the “calm before the storm,” as dangerous new—and familiar—threats are surely coming their way soon.
What Is ‘Disney Gallery: The Mandalorian,’ and When Did It Premiere?
Disney Gallery is an ongoing documentary-style series that first landed on Disney+ on May 4, 2020, giving Star Wars fans a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the Disney+ Original Series, including The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, and Star Wars: Episode IX The Rise of Skywalker (2019). Each episode typically accompanies an original series, debuting on Disney’s streaming platform in the weeks or months following their conclusions.
The show gives viewers a glimpse at the production of fan-favorite projects, showcasing interviews with directors, writers, prop masters, actors, stunt performers, and many others. So far, each season of The Mandalorian has received its own one-hour Disney+ special highlighting memorable moments, with the latest (and sadly, Pedro Pascal-less) edition of Disney Gallery arriving on June 28, 2023.
Check out the official teaser for Disney Gallery: The Mandalorian below:
Centered on Season 3 of The Mandalorian, the special focused on the making of Mandalore’s glass surface, which required plenty of trial and error from Lucasfilm’s VFX department, and even Jar-Jar Binks actor Ahmed Best’s return to the galaxy far, far away. Showrunners Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni also walked audiences through their vision for the third season, along with commentary from Bryce Dallas Howard, Rick Famuyiwa, Carl Weathers, and other directors.
Top Five Revelations Lucasfilm Revealed in ‘Disney Gallery: The Mandalorian’ Season 3
Season 3 was about bringing Din and Grogu together again
Perhaps one of the more controversial moments from Season 3 of The Mandalorian was the showrunners’ decision to almost immediately reunite Din and Grogu after their tearful goodbye in the Season 2 finale. With Grogu going with Luke to his new Jedi Temple Academy to learn the ways of the Force, it was widely understood that he and his pseudo-adopted dad would spend some time apart, allowing for each character to grow in their rights before their eventual reunion, which felt imminent—but not this imminent.
The Book of Boba Fett took a break from the eponymous bounty hunter’s endeavors on Tatooine to give audiences a glimpse of Grogu’s training with Luke, where the Jedi Master presented Grogu with a difficult choice: accept a lightsaber and stay with Luke at the temple, or take the Beskar armor given to him by Din and leave his training behind. Obviously, Grogu chose the latter option, which received backlash from fans who felt that the showrunners’ choice to reunite the two almost immediately undermined their emotional separation in The Mandalorian Season 2. Favreau also raised eyebrows when he claimed that two whole years had passed between the events of The Mandalorian‘s sophomore season and Book of Boba.
In the new Disney Gallery episode, Favreau and Filoni defended this decision, explaining that this rapid course correction was necessary for the story they wanted to tell in Season 3. To them, The Mandalorian has a “bifurcated lead,” one necessitated by the fact Din Djarin wears a helmet, with Grogu giving a more human face to the father-son-duo. Plus, the bond between Din and Grogu is arguably the main pull factor of the Disney+ TV show, and without it, it’s safe to say that the story would lack much of any emotion.
Mandalore was always the end game
“Chapter 18: The Mines of Mandalore” was one of the more pivotal episodes of The Mandalorian Season 3, as it finally showed Din and Bo-Katan’s long-awaited return to their ancestral planet. As shown in previous Star Wars projects, Mandalore was targeted by the Empire towards the end of the Clone Wars and was essentially turned into glass after they deployed nuclear bombs to its surface. Bo-Katan always felt as though her unlawfully accepting the Darksaber led to the “Night of a Thousand Tears, and no one had braved returning to the planet out of fears that its surface would poison all who dared to visit.
To rejoin the Children of the Watch, Din was tasked with returning to Mandalore to bathe in the Living Waters, which would atone for his sins after he voluntarily removed his helmet in Season 2. With the planet being a desolate, near-apocalyptic location, set designers had a monumental task when adapting it to live-action. Artists had to nail the appearance of a glassed-over world, even using references from nuclear blast sites to create the perfect look. After testing radioactive elements and other glass-like textures, the team, led by longtime Star Wars VFX supervisor Phil Tippett, eventually landed on a type of resign that would coat the planet’s surface.
In terms of story, returning to Mandalore was always the end game for Filoni and Favreau. In the Disney Gallery episode, Favreau said that even though they “didn’t know how Season 3 was going to wrap up at first,” they knew the story would “have to go to Mandalore at some point.” This was inevitable, considering all of the set-ups in Season 2. At the same time, Din dealing with the ramifications of removing his helmet made for an interesting plot point in Season 3 that also helped establish Mandalore’s new presence in the galaxy moving forward.
Dave Filoni initially had doubts about Baby Yoda — and he wasn’t always going to be a puppet
Arguably one of the most shocking takeaways from the latest Disney Gallery episodes was that Dave Filoni was initially reluctant to bring Grogu into the mix. He cited George Lucas’ love of Yoda, noting that the green gibberish-speaking Jedi was one of the creator’s all-time favorite characters. Because of this, Filoni, who’s worked closely with Lucas for over a decade, was hesitant to “mess up” Yoda’s legacy with the addition of Grogu. Thankfully, Favreau talked him out of it.
It’s safe to say that The Mandalorian wouldn’t be half as successful without the adorable Baby Grogu, who has brought an undeniable cute factor to the show. The “Baby Yoda” phenomenon has appealed to millions of fans worldwide, becoming the show’s best selling point when it comes to advertising, marketing, and merchandise sales. But initially, Grogu was supposed to look much different—something that could’ve majorly backfired had it not been done correctly.
According to Filoni, Grogu was originally going to be created by CGI, given Favreau’s recent experience with 2016’s The Jungle Book and 2019’s The Lion King, both live-action Disney remakes that relied heavily on CGI. Fortunately, a better direction was taken after Werner Herzog, who played The Client in The Mandalorian Season 1, told him and Favreau to “believe in the puppet.”
Bo-Katan is also “The Mandalorian” in Season 3
In the new Disney Gallery episode, we got many intriguing insights into Bo-Katan’s character, who had a much more substantial role in Season 3. The ex-Mandalorian royalty was first introduced in the animated Star Wars: The Clone Wars series and has since gone on to appear in Star Wars Rebels before making her live-action debut in The Mandalorian “Chapter 11: The Heiress.”
With Bo-Katan having so much history in the Star Wars universe, Fioni and Favreau felt it was essential to give this deeply complex character an expanded arc in Season 3—so much so that Rick Famuyiwa even admitted that Bo-Katan “is also The Mandalorian” this time around. This meant Katee Sackhoff had to bring her A-game for her leading role in Season 3, presenting its own challenges for the veteran Star Wars actress.
Interestingly enough, Sackhoff had to “stop and think about it” when Filoni initially asked her about playing Bo-Katan in live-action, as she was skeptical about how the character would translate to a new environment. She explained the decision as “harder than I thought,” though she ultimately agreed to bring Bo-Katan to life in The Mandalorian Season 2.
Dave Filoni also admitted that he came up with Bo-Karan’s character design during a Southwest Airlines flight, sketching her signature barn owl-inspired helmet on a napkin, which is a pretty hilarious look into his creative process.
Moff Gideon could return, but his defeat sets up a new heir to the Empire
Giancarlo Esposito’s menacing Moff Gideon has been a highlight of The Mandalorian since its debut season. After he was imprisoned in the Season 2 finale after kidnapping Grogu to steal his blood for midi-chlorins, it was revealed in Season 3 that he had escaped New Republic capture. We got a closer look at his Shadow Council in “Chapter 23: The Spies,” which showed Gideon meeting with former Imperial officers. It was also revealed that Gideon had been operating an underground cloning facility on Mandalore, attempting to create the next generation of Dark Trooper suits—and a Force-using clone of himself.
Thanks to Grogu, Din, and Bo-Katan, Gideon was defeated—but perhaps, not for good. Rumors of his survival have run rampant following the Season 2 finale, with many fans speculating that this version of Gideon was, possibly, a clone or that he somehow managed to survive the fire blast that swallowed his body in the finale’s climax.
The man himself might have just given validity to those rumors in the new Disney Gallery special, where he discussed playing such a deliciously likable villain. Esposito said that a “rise from the ashes is possible” for Moff Gideon, which is especially poetic considering the manner of the character’s death-falling in a pit of fire. But even if Gideon truly is dead, Esposito’s remarks could speak to a different sort of Empire entirely. His defeat could represent an end to the old Empire as we know it, and his death could make room for a new Empire to now rise, led by Grand Admiral Thrawn.
And don’t worry–there’s more of The Mandalorian in store. The lone gunfighter might’ve moved on, settling in the outskirts of Nevarro with his son at his side. But in the words of Filoni, Din “doesn’t belong” in this peaceful new setting, pointing to trouble ahead for this father-son pair. With Season 4 on the horizon, new adventures are around the corner. It’s just the beginning of another journey for Din, but when we’ll actually get to watch it unfold on screen remains another question entirely.